President Donald Trump’s patience may be waning when it comes to the riots in Los Angeles and Governor Gavin Newsom’s defiance. Trump might be edging closer than ever to invoking the Insurrection Act, driven by a vision of executive power free from the guardrails, governors and generals who stifled him in 2020, according to media reports.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 is a U.S. federal law that grants the President the power to deploy the U.S. military and federalize National Guard units within the United States in specific, extraordinary circumstances. These include suppressing civil disorder, insurrection, or armed rebellion.
Trump is reportedly now openly telegraphing his willingness — even eagerness — to invoke the law, telling reporters Monday: “The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They’re insurrectionists.”
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According to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on X, more than 700 Marines were mobilized Monday to respond to the protests in LA, joining up to 4,000 National Guardsmen already on scene. Without the Insurrection Act, the troops’ mission is legally limited to protecting federal agents and property.
“This is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism that threatens the foundation of our republic. We cannot let it stand,” Newsom, who is suing Trump to reverse the National Guard order, posted on X.
Immigration has always been a hot button topic for Trump, some would say the very foundation of his re-election campaign, and now with the riots, he may have the perfect excuse to execute the Insurrection Act, which it seems he has been itching to do for a long time. He has been increasing his hostility towards any and all who have aided immigrants, escalating his authoritarian overreach over private Ivy league institutions like Harvard, by cutting billions in their funding and also banning certain foreign nationals from entering the United States.
Over the past two months, a Wisconsin judge, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and even a sitting member of Congress have been among those arrested for allegedly obstructing federal immigration operations.
“The American people have made their opinion known on the President’s immigration agenda, which is why President Trump is in the White House and Democrats lost the Presidency, the House, and the Senate,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
“We’re not going to let them get away with it,” Trump said Sunday. “We’re going to have troops everywhere, we’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart.”
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The Insurrection Act is a statutory exception to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which generally prohibits the use of federal military forces for domestic law enforcement. The President can invoke the Act if “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States,” making it “impracticable” to enforce federal law by ordinary judicial means. Historically, it has been used to quell rebellions (like the Civil War), enforce civil rights (e.g., school desegregation), and respond to major civil unrest. Its invocation is rare and signals a severe breakdown of civilian authority.
If Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, it would signify a severe escalation and a determination by the president that ordinary civilian authority is insufficient, thereby once again showing off his authoritarian overreach.